A £1,000 grant from NHS Charities Together to the Poole Hospital Heroes fund has been used to buy delirium activity boxes.

The boxes, which include strengthening equipment, puzzles, quiz books, colouring activities, board games and card games, will be used by the hospital’s respiratory therapy team.

The idea came after discussion between Sarah Harding, from the patient experience team, and the therapies team, with the bid to secure funding made by Jenny Williams, head of patient experience.

The boxes will assist therapists working with the patients to re-orientate, improve cognition and ultimately reduce the delirium experience due to the effects of long-term sedation, on top of waking up in an unfamiliar environment,” said Suzie Jupp, acute inpatient team lead physio.

“During the Covid-19 pandemic this has been compounded by staff wearing full personal protective equipment and families being unable to visit.”

Boxes also contain clocks which clearly display the time and whether it is day or night. These are extremely useful to patients with delirium.

In the future it is hoped to provide activity boxes for all recovering critical care patients.